For ongoing support
The build is finished. Now justify the monthly line item.
A retainer is the easiest thing on a client's budget to question, because most of what it buys is invisible: the things that didn't break, the fixes nobody noticed.
The situation
Once a project moves from build to support, the visible output drops to near zero while the invoice stays the same. The client isn't being unreasonable when they ask what they're getting — they genuinely can't see it. Meanwhile the honest answer (steady usage, two incidents resolved inside a day, a feature request shipped) is real, recorded nowhere, and forgotten by the time anyone asks.
What you'd count
The only part that changes between clients. Everything else — rules, score, feedback, incidents, report — is identical.
session.completed— continued use — the baseline that the thing still mattersworkflow.finished— the outcome the retainer is protectingsupport.request— how much help they still need, which should fall over time
What you'd ask
Two audiences, asked separately and reported separately.
- The budget holder
“Is the support worth what you pay for it?”
- The people relying on it
“When something breaks, do you get it back quickly?”
What you end up with
Incidents logged as they happen, with what we did about them — so the renewal conversation includes the fixes and not only the failures. Feedback captured while it's still fresh rather than reconstructed under pressure. And a value report that makes the invisible part of a retainer visible.